Politics

"He’s one of the world’s great storytellers, but woven within those stories are some pretty important political lessons about focusing on the long term and taking on big challenges"

As Canadians prepare for former prime minister Brian Mulroney’s state funeral on March 23, the ��Ƶ is remembering his legacy and will lower flags on all three campuses for the event.

Mulroney, the Conservative leader who served as the country’s 18th prime minister from 1984 to 1993, visited U of T on numerous occasions over the years. That includes the G7 summit in 1988, when he met with U.S. president Ronald Reagan and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher at Hart House alongside other world leaders.

(courtesy of Hart House)

He also made several public appearances at U of T after retiring from politics, including taking part in a conference on antisemitism in 2003 and a conference on diplomacy in the digital age in 2011. More recently, in September 2022, Mulroney visited the Rotman School of Management for an event celebrating the legacy of Michael Wilson, U of T’s 33^rd chancellor, who served as finance minister in Mulroney’s government.

A week after the Rotman event, Mulroney visited the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy for a conversation with Professor Peter Loewen, director of the Munk School, during which he reflected on his prime ministerial tenure and discussed Canada’s role in the world and the future of democratic societies.

U of T News spoke with Loewen about Mulroney’s achievements and the legacy of his leadership.

Sen. Pamela Wallin and Brian Mulroney at the Rotman School of Management (photo by Johnny Guatto)

You recently wrote an article in The Conversation in which you described Brian Mulroney’s stance against apartheid in South Africa as one of his biggest achievements. Why?

This was, in Mulroney’s telling, and the telling of many others, one of the greatest achievements of his prime ministership. Brian Mulroney, in concert with Canadian mainstream opinion, was deeply opposed to apartheid. He thought it was an unacceptable form of racial separation within South Africa and was unbecoming of a democracy. That opposition, by the way, went all the way back – several governments – to John Diefenbaker’s Conservative government which opposed the imposition of apartheid when he was prime minister.

Mr. Mulroney became prime minister at a time when the issue was really coming to a head. It was deeply dividing South African society. The imprisonment of Nelson Mandela and many other political prisoners was, by that point, widely recognized internationally as unacceptable. So for Mulroney, it was an opportunity in foreign policy for Canada to play a role in trying to right one of the great wrongs of the world.

He was opposed in that effort, though, by two of his otherwise closest allies and, indeed, closest political friends: Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, who opposed opposing apartheid ostensibly for anti-communist reasons. They felt that the ANC [African National Congress] was an ally of communists and they still saw themselves locked deeply in the Cold War. So, this made it difficult for Mulroney – and yet he took up the challenge of opposing it. He was joined in that opposition by most Canadians indeed and by other Commonwealth leaders, including Bob Hawke in Australia.

How did Mulroney enlist global organizations in the fight against apartheid?

South African anti-apartheid leader and African National Congress (ANC) member Nelson Mandela arrives in Ottawa for an official visit June 17, 1990 (photo by Renaud Giroux/AFP via Getty Images)

Mulroney’s international leadership was key. In 1987-1988, Mulroney had positioned himself to hold the chairmanship of three different organizations: the Commonwealth, the Francophonie (Organisation internationale de la Francophonie) and the G7. When you hold the chairmanship of those organizations, you’re in a position to set the agenda for the things to be talked about.

It was at that point that he brought the Commonwealth nations together as well as G7 countries – minus the United Kingdom and the United States – to really bring the full pressure of a sanctions regime on the South African government. And this eventually led to much economic difficulty and really squeezed the South Africans so that they had to release Mandela.

[Then-president of South Africa] F.W. De Klerk announced in February 1990 that he would unilaterally release Mandela without conditions. Mandela was released seven days later and one of the first phone calls he made internationally was to Brian Mulroney; indeed, the first parliament he visited after his freedom outside of South Africa was the Canadian Parliament, where he thanked not only Mulroney but all Canadians.

This was a moment of great international leadership by Mr. Mulroney. It’s one in which he marshaled all the support of Canadian public opinion. He often ran against public opinion – in this case he was on the right side of it and he marshaled all that support to this great international action.

What are some other examples of how Mulroney operated on the world stage?

The North American Free Trade Agreement was initialled in San Antonio on Oct. 7, 1992, with U.S. president George H.W. Bush (centre), Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari (left) and Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney (right) in attendance. Michael Wilson, Canada's minister of international trade, is seen seated in front of Mr. Mulroney (photo by Bettmann/Getty Images)

During the first Gulf War – Operation Desert Storm, the American-led mission to push back Saddam Hussein’s Iraq out of Kuwait – Mulroney was very influential in using multilateral relationships to set the terms of engagement for that war. He made it largely possible for other countries like Canada and Australia to have conditions under which they could join that alliance.

Then there’s the other sets of things which weren’t multilateral initially, but bilateral – that is, his agreements with the United States over free trade in 1987 and 1988 that then led to the multilateral NAFTA, which has set the framework for North American trade across all of the Americas. It’s taken a longer time for that vision to be realized, but that template of bilateral and then trilateral trade agreements has really formed the basis for a lot of the trade agreements that Canada now holds throughout the Americas.

How do you reflect on your conversation with Mulroney at the Munk School in 2022?

It was a thrill to have spent the time with him. He’s one of the world’s great storytellers. But woven within those stories are some pretty important political lessons about focusing on the long term and taking on big challenges.

I reflected with [TVO journalist] Steve Paikin – we were chatting after Mulroney’s passing – that I think I may have been the only person to have ever asked Mulroney a question in a public interview that stumped him. I asked him essentially whether there were things he wished he had spent more time on. He couldn’t answer the question.

I don’t know if it was an unfair question, but I think the answer was very telling in that Mr. Mulroney didn’t waste a minute when he was in office. And I think he left with no regrets over all the things that he got done. And that’s a lesson to political leaders today: that you have to really grasp that unfailing minute, and if you don’t make use of all 60 seconds of it, that you will have regrets in your career – but I think Brian Mulroney had none.

U of T Mississauga students lead efforts to understand justice in global conflicts

siddiq22 — Fri, 19 May 2023 14:12:01 +0000

U of T Mississauga students lead efforts to understand justice in global conflicts

siddiq22 Fri, 05/19/2023 - 10:12

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From left: Pedro Andrade, Fatimah Ahsan, Rohit Bahal, Nicole Fernando, Geoff Dancy, Joseph Mangin, Mary Kazek, and Farah Radwan are among the researchers working on the Transitional Justice Evaluation Tools project (supplied photo)

Topic

Global Lens

Global

Human Rights

International Relations

A group of students at the ��Ƶ Mississauga are at the forefront of efforts to understand transitional justice across the globe – a scholarly field that confronts how to pursue accountability for human rights violations in the context of authoritarianism and violent political conflict.

Working with Geoff Dancy, associate professor in U of T Mississauga's department of political science, nine students are collecting data on criminal prosecutions, truth commissions, legal amnesties and reparations policies in all the regions of the world.

Their goal is “to provide a comprehensive database for academic research, and to predict human rights trends internationally," says team member Pedro Andrade, a fourth-year undergraduate student from Brazil.

Dancy, post-doctoral researcher Oskar Timo Thoms and the group of undergraduate students received a $3-million grant from Global Affairs Canada – administered jointly between Harvard University and U of T – for their Transitional Justice Evaluation Tools (TJET) project.

TJET's student researchers have developed a wide range of expertise while working on the project.

Mary Kazek, an undergraduate student studying international affairs and economics, has become a go-to authority on criminal proceedings against Chilean military and intelligence officers who were responsible for extensive human rights violations during the Pinochet regime.

Collecting data on over 500 prosecutions has also given Kazek an appreciation for detailed research.

“Political science tends to focus on the macro level and gloss over the details of atrocities and human rights violations, which prevents people from fully understanding the true horrors of what has happened," she says.

Third-year student Fatimah Ahsan, who is a U of T Global Scholar studying political science, has helped finalize an exhaustive database of over 80 truth commissions that were established in the last 50 years – including Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which completed its work in 2015.

“I personally enjoy how much I am able to learn about the cases,” Ahsan says. “Every case I code, I learn something about the country I am working on, including its history and political state.”

Other researchers are focused less on specific mechanisms of justice, and more on overall themes. Political science and criminology student Farah Radwan has spent months studying prosecutions of state agents for sex- and gender-based violence, combing through information on over 17,000 accused rights violators.

“I think the biggest thing I learned while working on this project is that the workload can seem daunting, and it is really time-consuming," she says. "But it is extremely rewarding and fulfilling when it’s done – and done right.”

The detail-oriented work has been challenging yet fulfilling. Through her work with TJET, political science student Nicole Fernando has come to specialize in coding, converting publicly available information into useable data.

“I love the methodical nature of coding – there is a process to follow for examining each case," she notes.

Amid their exacting individual research, the TJET group has come together through regular group meetings and team hangouts on the fifth floor of the Maanjiwe nendamowinan building on the U of T Mississauga campus.

“What has struck me the most is the team-oriented nature of the research. We regularly discuss with each other about our respective work, which gives us a better understanding of our contribution," says Joseph Mangin, a third-year student from France studying politics and international relations who has been going through news articles to collect data on global amnesty laws.

Dancy, who previously worked at Tulane University in New Orleans, brought the TJET project with him when he moved to U of T last summer.

He's effusive about the U of T student researchers currently taking part in the project.

"Not to diminish the work of other teams I’ve led, but this is probably the most joyful and committed group of students I’ve ever worked with," says Dancy, who gives each of his researchers coffee mugs labelled “Researching justice, one cup at a time.”

Dancy, along with colleagues from Harvard University, recently presented findings from TJET's data collection to Global Affairs Canada at a meeting in Ottawa.

“All of the hard work the students have done directly informed high-level policy conversations about how to proceed with transitional justice in contexts such as Ukraine and Ethiopia," he said.

‘A singular legacy’: U of T community remembers former Mississauga Mayor ‘Hurricane’ Hazel McCallion

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 16:25:20 +0000

‘A singular legacy’: U of T community remembers former Mississauga Mayor ‘Hurricane’ Hazel McCallion

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 01/30/2023 - 11:25

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Hazel McCallion with U of T Mississauga’s Amrita Daniere and U of T President Meric Gertler during during Carlo Fidani's honorary degree ceremony in 2019 (photo by Lisa Sakulensky)

Topic

The ��Ƶ community is mourning the death of Hazel McCallion, a devoted champion for her community and a longtime friend of U of T Mississauga.

The legendary former mayor of Mississauga – nicknamed “Hurricane Hazel” for her bold approach – died on Jan. 29 at the age of 101. She is survived by her children Peter, Paul and Linda, and by granddaughter Erika.

She was an honorary U of T degree recipient and special adviser to U of T Mississauga.

“The ��Ƶ joins in mourning the loss of our great friend, adviser and champion Hazel McCallion,” says U of T President Meric Gertler. “Hazel played a key role in the development of U of T Mississauga as a powerful engine of progress in the western GTA and well beyond. This sprang from her belief in the crucial importance of higher education and her incredibly passionate devotion to the City of Mississauga and its residents.

“Hazel has left a singular legacy, through her lifetime of civic leadership and charitable initiatives. Her accomplishments as a trailblazer will benefit all of us for generations to come. On behalf of the entire U of T community, I offer deepest condolences to the McCallion family.”

The fifth mayor of Mississauga, McCallion was also its longest serving and best known. She held the office from 1978 to 2014, having been elected 12 times – twice by acclamation. She prided herself on never campaigning formally, saying she won her elections one voter at a time in the grocery stores and at hockey rinks.

During McCallion’s 36 years as mayor, Mississauga grew from a suburb of 250,000 people to Canada’s sixth-largest city, boasting more than 50 Fortune 500 company headquarters. Under her guidance, Mississauga developed into a key economic centre, attracting international investment and building a thriving and culturally diverse city that has earned international acclaim.

Hazel McCallion receives her honorary degree from U of T in 2010. McCallion is hooded by Professor Ulrich Krull as she faces then-U of T Chancellor David Peterson (photo by David Cooper/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

In 2010, U of T honoured McCallion, then 89, with an honorary doctor of laws in recognition of her remarkable contributions to public life.

A strong proponent of education and innovation, McCallion understood the value and importance of a university for the development of a city. U of T Mississauga collaborated with McCallion, the city, and other stakeholders and industries, creating active partnerships and links within the community. One such collaboration was the Healthy City Stewardship Centre, a made-in-Mississauga model led by McCallion that, in 2006, won the World Leadership Award honouring exceptional leadership in cities around the world.

When the university was developing the Mississauga Academy of Medicine, an increase in spaces for medical students was needed. True to her unflinching style, McCallion made the necessary phone calls, explaining the value of this expansion – and it worked.

She also helped U of T Mississauga to raise $6 million for her namesake Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre.

After retiring from politics, McCallion took on the mantle of special adviser to U of T Mississauga, where she advised on matters relating to strategic development, consulted with the Institute for Management and Innovation to develop a master’s degree in urban innovation and development, and lent her expertise to a non-credit training course for those aspiring to enter public service.

She also served as a guest lecturer and served as an invaluable mentor, interacting with faculty members and students over the decades.

“Hazel was a dedicated advocate for UTM and a fierce champion for Mississauga,” says U of T Vice-President and U of T Mississauga Principal Alexandra Gillespie. “Strong, outspoken and knowledgeable, her extraordinary contributions as a civic leader and, later, a tireless volunteer, strengthened our community, helping our campus and city grow into the diverse, innovative, global leader it is today.

“This is a tremendous loss,” she continues. “We have lost a valued adviser and trusted friend. Her energy, spirit and unwavering commitment to a brighter future will be deeply missed.”

Hazel McCallion attends the opening of the Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre (File photo)

Ulrich Krull, former vice-president and principal of U of T Mississauga, remembers McCallion as a leader with a vision.

“Although the world is filled with billions of people, each of them with their individual stories, Hazel rises above the noise with a bright beacon, creating a better place,” Krull says. “She touched everywhere, from our neighbourhood to our province, our country and the globe.”

McCallion described herself as a child of the Great Depression and had no formal education, recalls former U of T Mississauga Vice-President and Principal Ian Orchard. This motivated her to value an education she could not have and support education for others.

Orchard remembers walking with McCallion through the recently opened Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre. Students yelled out her name and asked for selfies. Everyone in Mississauga knew her, he says, and knew they could call her “Hazel.”

“The ��Ƶ Mississauga has lost a true friend,” says Orchard, who describes McCallion as a force to be reckoned with, a force for the better, someone who instilled pride in the city and a role model for many.

“In many ways the City of Mississauga and UTM grew up together, and we mourn the loss of such a wonderful friend and incredible champion of UTM. Her outstanding legacy will live on at UTM.”

Born in Port Daniel, Que., on Valentine’s Day in 1921, McCallion worked as a secretary with the Canadian Kellogg company – first in Montreal and then in Toronto. She settled in Mississauga after her husband Sam’s parents gifted the newlyweds land in Streetsville in honour of their 1951 wedding.

Streetsville was the launch pad for McCallion’s career in politics. She was elected deputy reeve in 1967. She then served as mayor of the village from 1970 to 1973 before joining Mississauga’s city council after amalgamation in 1974.

In her first bid for mayor in 1978, she won by 3,000 votes.

A little over a year into her first term, she and the city were thrust into the world spotlight when a string of CN rail cars carrying dangerous chemicals, including liquid chlorine, derailed as they passed over Mavis Road at Dundas Street on Nov. 10, 1979.

More than 200,000 residents had to be evacuated. At the time, it was the largest peacetime evacuation in North American history. The only injury reported was to McCallion herself, who twisted her ankle while surveying the wreckage.

The derailment not only put the city on the international map, but also helped open it up the wider region. During negotiations with Canadian Pacific Rail to recoup the cost of the emergency response, McCallion’s council convinced CP to allow GO trains on their Milton line. The deal opened the line – and the city – to commuters.

Her deft handling of the crisis earned her the moniker “Hurricane” and cemented her reputation as a resolute leader.

Hazel McCallion celebrates at U of T Mississauga's 50th anniversary gala in 2017 (photo by Lisa Sakulensky)

McCallion earned many accolades throughout her political career. They included: Member of the Order of Canada, Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun, first chancellor of Sheridan College and 2005 runner-up for the World Mayor Award.

After retiring as mayor, McCallion continued her busy pace, taking on roles as Chief Elder Officer for the retirement living group Revera Inc. and as business ambassador for the law firm Speigel Nichols Fox LLP.

In February 2022, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie and Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced the 18-kilometre Hurontario LRT line linking several transit systems (which McCallion had demanded from the provincial government after Toronto received one). It will be named the Hazel McCallion Line.

McCallion also found time for her personal passions. A lifelong hockey fan known for carrying ice skates in her trunk “just in case,” McCallion played professional women’s hockey for the Montreal Kik in the 1940s for $5 a game. As a board member of the Ontario Women's Hockey League, she was instrumental in the construction of the Hershey Centre in Mississauga and helped Don Cherry’s group bring an Ontario Hockey League franchise to the city in 1998.

She also founded Hazel's Hope, a campaign to fund health care for children afflicted with AIDS and HIV in southern Africa.

On her 101st birthday, McCallion shared the advice she would give to her 20-year-old self:

“Think positive, work hard and, if you want to be a success, you’ve got to be independent and you have to realize that you are on this earth for a purpose, so get with it,” she said. “And do your homework.”

Community members who wish to make a gift in memory of Hazel McCallion can do so by visiting this weblink.

Researchers find a daily dose of politics leads to stress – but avoiding it can hinder civic engagement

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 08:59:57 +0000

Researchers find a daily dose of politics leads to stress – but avoiding it can hinder civic engagement

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 01/24/2023 - 03:59

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(Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Topic

Rotman School of Management

Stress

U of T Scarborough

From 24-hour news cycles to social media posts from your angry uncle, it’s almost impossible not to get a daily dose of politics.

But new research finds that daily exposure to politics can cause chronic stress. Disconnecting from the hectic news cycle has its own repercussions, however – strategies aimed at avoiding those negative emotions might result in becoming less politically engaged.

Brett Ford

“The stress of daily politics poses an unfortunate dilemma,” says Brett Ford, an assistant professor in the department of psychology at U of T Scarborough, who co-authored the study with Matthew Feinberg, an associate professor of organizational behaviour at the Rotman School of Management. “It seems that people who are better able to deal with the daily stress of politics are also less likely to be politically involved.”

The research, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, surveyed more than 1,000 Americans after the 2016 U.S. presidential election as they experienced daily political events such as statements from the President, laws debated in Congress and conflicts with foreign countries. Participants, who included Democrats, Republicans and Independents, were asked about how these events made them feel, how they managed those emotions and how motivated they felt to take political action such as donating, volunteering and contacting their representatives.

Matthew Feinberg

In additional experiments, another group of participants watched clips of popular political television programs such as Tucker Carlson Tonight and The Rachel Maddow Show before being surveyed. Some participants were asked to just respond naturally to the programs, while others were asked to use different strategies to help them regulate their emotions during the clips – including distraction and cognitive reappraisal.

Ford, director of U of T's Affective Science & Health Laboratory, says cognitive reappraisal is a type of coping strategy that can help reduce stress or anxiety by reinterpreting or thinking about something in a different way – by downplaying its significance, for example. Distraction, on the other hand, involves avoiding thinking about the content altogether.

“Both of these strategies can be effective ways to reduce negative emotions. If you can limit your exposure to upsetting information, that helps. If you can change what the information means to you, that also helps,” she says.

The researchers found the strategies were effective in lowering negative emotions, and while that predicted greater well-being, it also meant participants were less likely to take action.

Ford, whose research looks at how people manage their emotions, says a daily dose of politics seems to share the same features as other forms of chronic stress in that it’s something people face regularly and feel there is very little they can do about it.

“It’s perfectly reasonable to want to protect yourself in the face of chronic stress, but we also need to understand the potential drawbacks of avoiding negative emotions, which is that people might be less likely to take action to change the systems that caused those emotions in the first place,” Ford says.

Ford recommends a few strategies for those wanting to stay politically engaged without jeopardizing their mental and physical well-being in the process – including emotional acceptance, or the idea of staying in touch with your emotions rather than immediately trying to get rid of them. This might involve viewing emotions as a valid and natural response to a stressful situation. This response, according to the researchers, tends to predict better mental health without coming at the cost of taking action.

Study co-author Feinberg says the research raises the question about whether people should avoid political news altogether to prevent stress.

“Our data suggests that if you are able to disconnect, you are going to feel better – but you may become less engaged. This is a difficult dilemma to manage, and it can be hard to strike a good balance,” he says.

The researchers say getting stressed over politics is nothing new and has typically been studied by looking at how people respond when the party they support loses an election. Their new research, on the other hand, reveals the impact of day-to-day political events and suggests that politics might be a chronic stressor in people’s lives.

“It underscores the far-reaching influence politicians and policymakers have beyond the formal powers they are endowed with,” Ford says.

The research was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Brian Mulroney hails legacy of Michael Wilson, former finance minister and U of T chancellor

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 16:12:32 +0000

Brian Mulroney hails legacy of Michael Wilson, former finance minister and U of T chancellor

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 09/16/2022 - 12:12

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Speaking at an event at the Rotman School of Management, former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said Michael Wilson, U of T's 33rd chancellor, was Canada's most impactful finance minister (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Topic

Rotman School of Management

A principled human being, a proud Canadian and the country’s most impactful finance minister – that’s how history will remember the late Michael Wilson, says former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

Mulroney made the remarks at an event this week – hosted by the ��Ƶ’s Rotman School of Management and co-presented by CFA Societies Canada – that focused on the legacy and impact of Wilson, who served as finance minister from 1984 to 1993 and as U of T’s 33^rd chancellor from 2012 to 2018.

“The big-ticket items for which Michael was responsible are the things that live on in history because they are the policies which shaped the nation,” Mulroney said during a conversation with Sen. Pamela Wallin.

“[Canada is] 155 years old – and 155 years from today, there will be people – historians – who will be writing that if we have this kind of prosperity and foundational strength today, there was a guy way back when – his name was Michael Wilson – and he was responsible for this.”

Mulroney also discussed several anecdotes that Wilson shared in Something within Me, a memoir that was published posthumously by ��Ƶ Press earlier this year – and which features a foreword by Mulroney.

A Trinity College alumnus, Wilson graduated from U of T with a degree in commerce before embarking on a successful career in finance. He was first elected to Parliament in the late 1970s and served as finance minister for seven years beginning in 1984, during which he was involved in negotiations of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and the implementation of tax reforms and the GST.

Wilson served as chancellor of Trinity College from 2003 to 2006. He became U of T’s chancellor in 2012 and served two full terms. Between his chancellorships of Trinity College and U of T, he served three years as Canada’s ambassador to the U.S.

He died in February 2019, aged 81.

Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney shared anecdotes about the late Michael Wilson’s time in cabinet during a conversation with Sen. Pamela Wallin at the Rotman School of Management (photo by Johnny Guatto)

“Michael left a lasting impression on the university through his tireless service as an ambassador to the alumni community and beyond,” said Janet Ecker, chair of U of T’s Governing Council, in her opening remarks at the event.

“He had a richly deserved reputation for genuine warmth and humanity and for regularly engaging students and faculty in meaningful ways.”

Ecker noted Wilson was also a prominent advocate of awareness of and support for mental health issues following the tragic loss of his son, Cameron.

Sen. Wallin then began the conversation with Mulroney, who set the tone early by labeling Wilson the greatest finance minister in Canada’s history.

“Why do I say what I do? Not simply because I loved Michael Wilson, which I did; not simply because I knew Michael Wilson as the most principled, honourable, decent colleague that a prime minister could ever have – but by the results.”

Those results, Mulroney said, included the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement; tax reform and the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST); privatization of companies ranging from Air Canada to Petro Canada; controlling government expenditure; and more.

Mulroney shared several recollections of Wilson’s involvement in negotiations over the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement – particularly the tension around Canada’s insistence on an independent dispute-settlement mechanism, which caused the American negotiators to balk.

He recalled phoning Wilson in Washington, D.C., as the deadline for negotiations loomed, and asking for his thoughts on how to handle the situation.

“He said to me, ‘Hang in there, prime minister, hang in there.”

A few minutes later, U.S. negotiators agreed to the key mechanism – an example, Mulroney said, that highlights the close relationship between the two countries at the time.

“To give you an idea of the relationship we had of complete trust and confidence: at that moment, with 15 minutes to go before the end of the ball game, Michael and I spoke and he said to me, ‘Hang in there,’” Mulroney said. “And that’s what I did. And that’s why we got the deal.”

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, right, accompanies Finance Minister Michael Wilson on the way to the House of Commons on Feb. 26, 1986 (photo by Boris Spremo/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Mulroney said he and Wilson prioritized Canada interests above political considerations, which is why they decided to forge ahead with the implementation of GST in 1991 despite it being a politically unpopular move.

“We knew the catastrophic political consequences of this,” Mulroney said. “But the question in Michael’s mind – and in mine – always was: ‘Is this good for Canada? If it’s good for Canada, we’re going to do it. If it’s not good for Canada, we’re not going to touch it.’”

Mulroney also used the event to pay tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, with whom he said he had “a very good relationship.”

The first of their many meetings, he recalled, took place in New Brunswick just five days after Mulroney was first elected prime minister in 1984. “I found her to be resolute, charming and knowledgeable – very knowledgeable,” Mulroney said.

Sen. Wallin noted Wilson’s memoir included recollections about engagements with the Queen and with Prince Philip – one of which served as an example of Wilson’s dry sense of humour. “Prince Philip once came over to [Wilson] and said, ‘And what do you do?’” Sen. Wallin said. “And Michael’s response was: ‘I work for your wife.’”

Mulroney added: “We all did.”

From air pollution to Indigenous storytelling: New courses at U of T Mississauga

lanthierj — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 15:15:22 +0000

From air pollution to Indigenous storytelling: New courses at U of T Mississauga

lanthierj Mon, 08/29/2022 - 11:15

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The coal-fired Lakeview generating station in Port Credit, a source of air pollution in the GTA, was demolished in 2007. (Photo by Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Topic

If you could choose any new course to study this year, would you focus on the present and explore the air quality in Peel Region – and its impact on residents? Would you look to the future and learn how to help a robot understand its surroundings?

Or would you travel back in time to learn about the lives of prisoners and asylum patients by studying their remains?

For her lesson on the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic, Madeleine Mant dressed as a war nurse. This year she is teaching Behind Bars: Anthropology of Institutional Confinement.
(Photo by Drew Lesiuczok)

“By looking at human skeletons from people who might have died in a hospital, asylum and institution, we can ask some sort of broad questions about health and power and structural violence,” says Assistant Professor Madeleine Mant, who will use archaeological records and artifacts to examine questions of health, power and the impact of institutions in her new course, Behind Bars: Anthropology of Institutions and Confinement.

It’s just one of a diverse array of offerings from the ��Ƶ Mississauga that are new for the 2022/2023 academic year:

Robotic Perception

Humans can automatically perceive the world around us and understand what is happening in our environments. We already know where objects are, and what state they are in, by the time we start consciously thinking about what we see and hear around us.

But robots aren’t quite there yet.

Perception is highly challenging for robots, explains Assistant Professor Igor Gilitschenski from the department of mathematical and computational sciences, and students enrolled in Robotic Perception will learn about the challenges computer scientists face when deploying perception algorithms on a robot – as well as algorithms that can be used to address these challenges.

“At the end of the course, students will be able to better understand, what are the challenges involved in making a robot understand its environment,” says Gilitschenski.

GIS Capstone Project

This year, geography students will map air pollution throughout Peel Region as part of the GIS Capstone Project, a new course that will allow them to gain real-world experience as they work with external partners in the public and private sector.

Tingting Zhu, an assistant professor, teaching stream in the department of geography, geomatics and environment, says one of the projects will allow students to map air pollution throughout Peel Region and see its impacts on residents. Students will also look at the correlation between air pollution levels and socioeconomic status, and how disadvantaged groups are impacted by air pollution.

Zhu says this experiential learning course will give students real-world knowledge and experience that can’t be learned in a classroom.

“Experiential learning lets students actively apply their knowledge and skills learned in the program,” says Zhu. “I hope students can hone their professional competencies like communication skills, problem-solving skills, and management skills along with their technical skills.”

Behind Bars: Anthropology of Institutions and Confinement

The Kingston Prison for Women operated from 1934 to 2000. A new course, Behind Bars, will examine archeological records and tackle broad questions of health, power and structural violence. (photo by Bob Olsen/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Artifacts such as skeletal remains, physician notebooks and confiscated prisoner-made tattoo machines can tell a much larger story of marginalized or institutionalized people, and the health inequities they faced throughout history.

In this interdisciplinary course, taught by the department of anthropology's Mant, students will have the opportunity to examine these various archeological records and learn about institutions’ effects on the human body, as well as the impacts of separation on people.

“By looking at human skeletons from people who might have died in a hospital, asylum and institution, we can ask some sort of broad questions about health and power and structural violence. Looking at the type of archeological or archival records, we can start to think about the effects of institutions through time,” Mant explains.

She hopes the course will help students think more critically about the long-term effects of separating people from others.

“I hope this class is a chance for students to think about health-care access through time, to think about ethics, as well as thinking about questions of disability and care within society,” she says.

Linguistics and Computation

When you type “The cricket jumped over the fence” on your computer, how does it know if the word “cricket” refers to the game or the insect? How can it tell the difference between a grammatical and ungrammatical sentence?

In this course led by Assistant Professor Barend Beekhuizen from the department of language studies, students who have either a background in linguistics or a computing science will be introduced to how linguistics and computing intersect – and how computational algorithms and data structures can be used as a formal language model.

Politics and Social Justice

Problems around gender equality, racism and wealth distribution aren’t just social justice issues. They are also political issues.

Politics and Social Justice, led by Assistant Professor Martha Balaguera Cuervo from the department of political science, will introduce political science students to the concept of social justice as a political issue. This course will focus on human rights, economic and social inequity, fairness and inclusion – with key concepts including power, identity, conflict, and structural racism, to name a few.

Anishinaabe Storytelling and Oral Tradition

Maria Hupfield, assistant professor in the department of English and drama and an artist and Anishinaabe-kwe of Wasuaksing First Nation, will lead students on a journey exploring the legends, beliefs and values of the Anishinaabek Nation.

In this course, which uses a transdisciplinary approach, students will explore the Anishinaabe story through many different forms including dance regalia, weavings/baskets, poems, songs, and Anishinaabe legends – as well as creation stories and guest speakers.

U of T Chancellor Emeritus Michael Wilson's memoirs released posthumously: The Hill Times

geoff.vendeville — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 13:57:24 +0000

U of T Chancellor Emeritus Michael Wilson's memoirs released posthumously: The Hill Times

geoff.vendeville Tue, 06/28/2022 - 09:57

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Michael Wilson, who served as U of T's 33rd chancellor, was elected to Parliament in the late 1970s and served as minister of finance under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (photo by Christopher J. Morris/Corbis via Getty Images)

Topic

Our Community

Michael Wilson

Politics

��Ƶ Chancellor Emeritus Michael Wilson – a businessman, politician, diplomat and mental health advocate – had his memoirs published posthumously this spring, The Hill Times reports.

Wilson graduated from U of T's Trinity College in 1959 with a degree in commerce and embarked on a career in finance. He was elected to Parliament in the late 1970s, served as minister of finance under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and later as ambassador to the United States, among other roles. He died in 2019 at the age of 81.

“If a prime minister of Canada is lucky – and I mean really lucky – he will wind up with a Michael Wilson in his cabinet, ideally as minister of finance,” Mulroney says in the foreword to Wilson's memoirs, Something Within Me: A Personal and Political Memoir (��Ƶ Press, 2022).

Startup led by U of T alumni uses AI to help Canadians track parliamentary proceedings

rahul.kalvapalle — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 20:33:45 +0000

Startup led by U of T alumni uses AI to help Canadians track parliamentary proceedings

rahul.kalvapalle Thu, 09/23/2021 - 16:33

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U of T alumnus Lyndon Chan hopes to boost political engagement with Parlawatch, an online tool that scrapes official transcripts from Question Period and uses natural language processing to generate daily summaries (photo courtesy of Lyndon Chan)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Our Community

Alumni

Artificial Intelligence

Entrepreneurship

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Politics

Startups

Alphabyte Solutions, a data analytics and consulting startup co-founded by ��Ƶ alumni, has created an online platform called Parlawatch that uses AI to boost engagement with federal politics by helping Canadians track parliamentary proceedings.

Overseen by lead data scientist Lyndon Chan, Parlawatch scrapes official transcripts from Question Period in the House of Commons and uses natural language processing to generate daily summaries. It also creates visualizations that show which topics are discussed in Parliament, and the sentiments of political parties on various issues.

The goal is to help people cut through clutter, misinformation and bias so they can make up their own minds about how Canada’s political parties are representing constituents.

“We were finding it hard to follow what’s happening in Parliament, so it made sense to do this project to summarize what’s happening so the average citizen can keep track [without] having to read an entire transcript,” says Chan, who graduated with a master’s degree in electrical engineering from U of T’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering last year.

“We try and condense proceedings in a way that’s understandable to the average person.”

Parlawatch creates text summaries by grouping Question Period transcripts into sets of questions posed by opposition parties and answers provided by the government.

Chan says Alphabyte Solutions, co-founded by U of T alumni Ahmad Nameh and Adam Nameh, was keen to demonstrate the potential of natural language processing technologies. “We saw that there was a lot of potential for practical use, but other companies either didn’t know about it or didn’t have the expertise to push it through,” he says. “We knew there were advanced algorithms out there, including for text summarization, and thought a good use case would be government data.”

Parlawatch’s text summaries work by grouping Question Period transcripts into sets of questions (posed by opposition parties) and answers (from the government), using AI to summarize the exchanges, and then grouping them according to party and date. The platform offers summaries for Question Period exchanges as far back as 2001. The sentiment analysis feature makes use of existing machine learning models that have been trained to assess sentiment on other data sets.

With Canadians re-electing a Liberal minority government this week, Chan provided a few examples of how citizens can use Parlawatch to glean insights into opposition parties’ stances toward the government on various issues, and their criticisms of the ruling party.

“If you want to see what the different parties think about the government on different topics, I recommend checking out the sentiment analysis feature,” he says, referring to a tool shows the average sentiment of each opposition party’s questions directed to the government that can be filtered by topic, with a sentiment of zero being most negative and one being most positive.

“For example, you can set a filter on the topic of COVID-19 and see what the parties are thinking about the government’s handling of the pandemic over time.”

This tool can also show what parties are choosing as their main criticisms of the government, by allowing users to see which topics invoke the most negative questions from the opposition parties.

There’s also the topics timeline, which Chan says can showcase the main themes that are discussed in Parliament.

“And you can check out the daily summaries because they show you – in text form – what’s actually happening.”

In addition to engaging regular citizens, Chan says he also envisages Parlawatch being a useful tool for journalists and news organizations down the road.

“We hope to build this product so that we can offer our services to different news organizations across Canada, so it becomes a part of their regular news arsenal,” he says. “Let’s say a news outlet wants to search for a particular quote from a parliamentary session, we can go back and crop the video of that automatically, so they don’t have to do it manually.”

For the time being, however, Chan says Alphabyte Solutions is focused on finding ways to use AI to help regular Canadians engage with what’s happening in federal politics. “Our hope is that this can become something the average person can look to regularly as a go-to source to keep track of what’s happening in Parliament.”

Adam Nameh, Alphabyte’ s co-founder and chief data officer, says Parlawatch ultimately hopes to fill a void when it comes to using AI and technology to help Canadians engage with politics.

“Parlawatch really made us rethink how the average Canadian consumes this information. Sitting through an entire parliamentary session is mostly out of the question, and most people choose to shut the blinds instead,” Nameh says.

“Our American counterparts have FiveThirtyEight and other data-driven tools which they can go to. Meanwhile, our House of Commons sittings were perfectly transcribed and were an open field waiting to be harvested.”

In the future, Nameh says Parlawatch is also seeking to generate engagement on social media with its Twitter bot and TikTok videos.

U of T student encourages others to get involved in politics

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 17:35:50 +0000

U of T student encourages others to get involved in politics

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 01/18/2021 - 12:35

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(photo courtesy of Renee Jagdeo)

Liliana Bechtold

Topic

Our Community

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Cities

Faculty of Arts & Science

Munk One

Politics

Undergraduate Students

Victoria College

The shift to online learning left the ��Ƶ’s Renee Jagdeo with some spare time on her hands this year – time she used to campaign for a city council seat.

She recently ran in a byelection in Ward 22 Scarborough-Agincourt, finishing near the middle of the slate of more than two dozen candidates. The seat was won by Nick Mantas.

“Politics operates to set priorities in our society, and I was interested in what it would look like if someone like myself was involved in that process,” says the second-year Victoria College student who is studying in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

Jagdeo says that her time in the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy’s Munk One program, with its focus on tackling local and global challenges hands-on, inspired her to run. In the program’s Global Problem-Solving course, Jagdeo and a team of students came up with a proposal to introduce underground “green walls” into the city’s transit system with the goal of improving air quality and making green space in the city more accessible.

The team has continued to pursue their project outside of the course and is hoping to bring it to life through public or private partnerships in the future.

Green and recreational space are important to Jagdeo. So is housing, improving public transit, COVID-19 response, community safety and economic development.

Running a campaign as a young person during a pandemic has definitely been a unique experience, Jagdeo says.

“I don’t think this would be considered a traditional campaign even in ‘normal times.’”

Jagdeo focused her efforts on creating a presence on social media, doing interviews with media outlets such as BlogTo and Narcity, holding Zoom town hall meetings and doing mailbox literature drops. It’s a lot to handle – but help from her fellow students, as well as her family and friends’ support, have been invaluable, she says.

Of course, mounting a campaign for public office at age 19 brings unique challenges.

“I’ve had a lot of people tell me ‘you should own a house first, or have a family, before you run for office’,” she says. “But I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to own a house, or if supporting a family is going to be feasible for me. That’s a reality for a lot of people in this city – because of their age or economic situation, or other factors – but it’s overlooked because the people who represent us don’t necessarily experience those same difficulties.”

A city council that is more diverse in terms of age, race, gender and economic status would be better able to consider the diverse social, cultural, and economic realities of Torontonians when making policy decisions, according to Jagdeo.

The idea that student communities are underutilized in politics is another major driving force of Jagdeo’s campaign. She says campaigns and politicians reaching out to involve students is key.

“My peers are some of the smartest people I have ever met,” she says. “They’re doing incredible things and it’s a shame that their ideas haven’t been implemented or given a voice yet.”

She also thinks that more young people, especially students, should run for public office, even if they aren’t studying a subject such as political science or law. “Having a background or training in a unique discipline allows you to think about and evaluate policy from new perspectives,” she says.

Jagdeo hopes her campaign will encourage other young people to get involved in politics. She was planning on holding a virtual event after the election to speak with other students and young adults about the realities and possibilities of running for office. As for advice for other young people thinking about participating in politics, she says that the most important pieces of the puzzle are integrity and passion.

“The best advice I’ve gotten so far is that you have to constantly evaluate yourself and stay honest,” she says. “If you go into politics because you’re genuinely passionate about solving something, it really shows.”

Jane Philpott, Lisa Raitt and Megan Leslie to talk 'modern leadership' at U of T

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 16 Jan 2020 16:28:54 +0000

Jane Philpott, Lisa Raitt and Megan Leslie to talk 'modern leadership' at U of T

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 01/16/2020 - 11:28

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From left to right: Jane Philpott, Lisa Raitt and Megan Leslie (photos by Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star via Getty Images, Melissa Renwick/Toronto Star via Getty Images and Mike Gifford)

Lani Krantz

Topic

Our Community

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Faculty of Arts & Science

Politics

Public Policy

Veteran parliamentarians from Canada’s three major political parties will gather on stage at the ��Ƶ next week to discuss what it takes to be a leader.

The event, on Jan. 20 at the Isabel Bader Theatre, is part of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy’s David Peterson Program in Public Sector Leadership Lecture Series.

Titled Modern Leadership: Policy and Politics, the conversation will feature former Liberal Party MP and cabinet member Jane Philpott, former Conservative Party MP and Deputy Leader Lisa Raitt and former NDP MP and Deputy Leader Megan Leslie, who is also a Munk School senior fellow. The discussion will be moderated by journalist Paul Wells of Maclean’s magazine.

The panel promises to bring a broad range of viewpoints and a lively discussion. Though legislators on Parliament Hill may often take opposing sides of fiscal or social issues, many hold their counterparts in high esteem and enjoy strong friendships outside of the office.

“You kind of have to have an unwritten rule – and sometimes it’s a spoken rule – on massive issues of policy that you won’t get into debate,” said Raitt. “Not that you won’t have serious discussions ... but the debate should stay inside the House of Commons.”

On what she’s most looking forward to in taking part in this event, Raitt says: “Seeing Jane and Megan again because I like them enormously as human beings.”

Leslie, meanwhile, pointed to what the three lawmakers have in common: “(We) have all been on the national stage ... voices for our party at different points – and all three of us have lost elections at different points for different reasons.”

Philpott is excited about the dynamic of speaking with her political peers, but also interacting with students and alumni at the event.

“We will build diversity in leadership as people start to realize that you can carve your own path,” she said. “Even if there is nobody that looks or talks like you in a powerful position in this country right now, that doesn’t mean that you won’t find your way there.”

Raitt hopes the audience takes away an important lesson from the event.

“It’s okay to be brave,” she said. “Even when you’re punished for being brave, it’s still the right thing to do and you’re going to be okay.”

The David Peterson Program in Public Sector Leadership Lecture Series invites speakers from a broad range of backgrounds and expertise to share their perspectives with the Munk School community. Recent events have featured former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, Indigenous child welfare advocate Cindy Blackstock, and former B.C. Premier Christy Clark, among many others.

“These three highly accomplished women have demonstrated political leadership in three different parties and after active politics,” said Mel Cappe, a Munk School professor and former clerk of the Privy Council.

“I look forward to hearing their ideas about the secret sauce for showing leadership at all levels.”

Politics

Remembering Brian Mulroney: Munk School's Peter Loewen reflects on the former prime minister's legacy

U of T Mississauga students lead efforts to understand justice in global conflicts

‘A singular legacy’: U of T community remembers former Mississauga Mayor ‘Hurricane’ Hazel McCallion

Researchers find a daily dose of politics leads to stress – but avoiding it can hinder civic engagement

Brian Mulroney hails legacy of Michael Wilson, former finance minister and U of T chancellor

From air pollution to Indigenous storytelling: New courses at U of T Mississauga

Robotic Perception

GIS Capstone Project

Behind Bars: Anthropology of Institutions and Confinement

Linguistics and Computation

Politics and Social Justice

Anishinaabe Storytelling and Oral Tradition

U of T Chancellor Emeritus Michael Wilson's memoirs released posthumously: The Hill Times

Read more in the Hill Times (subscription required)

Startup led by U of T alumni uses AI to help Canadians track parliamentary proceedings

U of T student encourages others to get involved in politics

Jane Philpott, Lisa Raitt and Megan Leslie to talk 'modern leadership' at U of T